Vincent Stalton's Metropolice Force Application

OOC Name: Airborne1st

IC Character Name: Vincent Stalton

1) Please write a minimum of 3 paragraphs OOC'ly detailing why your character wishes to join the Metropolice Force and what lead your character to do so.
Vincent Stalton has a desire for self preservation and is tired of scrounging for food and struggling to survive as a mere citizen in City 18. He is young and as spry as one can be, given the circumstance and feels he is wasting away his youth. He desires recognition, something he never had in his past. Being relatively shy, he didn't stand out very much. Now, he intends to change that and become someone new with a new mission in life.

Vincent knows joining the MPF will bring food, shelter, knowledge, and maybe even some new friends into his life. He is becoming desperate for these basic life necessities as the days pass in City 18. Vincent can't imagine his future becoming any better by standing by the wayside and going in the same direction he has been. For his own sake, and for the chance of living at least another year, he wants to give joining the MPF a shot.

Other than means of survival, Vincent believes there is a possibility for a lucrative, bright future with this occupying force. A future much better than living as a simple citizen of the city. He has clearly seen the brutality of those wearing the uniforms and masks, but he'd much rather be on the other end of the stun stick. Vincent desires authority, prestige, and a purpose. He feels this new militaristic police force that has occupied this city is just the organization to get those things.  

2) Please detail your characters traits. (Eg, Pure, Lawful, Trustworthy)
Serious, Selfish, Shy, Conscientious

3) Please provide 2 paragraphs about what you are expecting the Combine Civil Authority to be like for you and your character.
I expect the personal experience for me to be something interesting. It won't necessarily be a "new" experience since I had an old unit here before the server went down but this will be a chance to develop a new type of character and start over with different people to role play with.

The experience for my character will be full of changes I'm sure. Vincent is relatively shy but is bent on his own personal survival. As he progresses through training and learns the ideals of the MPF, he will change in some ways, but in other ways I expect his attributes to become even more enhanced, so to speak. For example, he will likely become less shy over time and learn to be more aggressive and voice his opinion, but his desire for self preservation may drive him to do his duty even better.

4) Please provide a detailed back-story from an out-of-character perspective on your applying character. This section must be detailed and consist of a minimum of 300 words.
Vincent Stalton was born in 1990 in South Carolina, in the United States. He had an average childhood and had a strong interest in aviation. His dream job was to be a pilot. He didn't come from a very wealthy family, so college wasn't much of an option for him. This also meant his passion for aviation would never become a reality.

As he grew up, he developed a more serious attitude towards things and was often seen as being mature for his age. He was somewhat shy, and didn't approach people very often just to ask them to be friends. Instead, he was someone who waited for others to approach him. He developed more of a secretive lifestyle, often keeping things to himself that most people would love to go around telling others about. Because of this, the few friends he did have found him to be very trustworthy when it came to telling Vincent things they didn't want others to know about.

Vincent's teenage years were fairly average as well. He went to a public school where he took a few extra history classes, something that interested him. He began to develop a strong sense of self preservation for himself and his family. The more he studied history, the more paranoid he became about the government turning on its people or becoming too powerful, like that of ancient Rome. He never really expected the day to come where he would have to fight for his survival, but he wanted to be ready if it ever did. This wasn't exactly something he spoke of publicly, as he didn't want to be judged or thought of as a freak.

As he got into his mid twenties, a drastic change took place in the world. The Seven Hour War began and ended and now there was a strange militaristic force occupying the Earth. Vincent found himself separated from his family in the chaotic events that took place during the invasion. Some of his friends stood against these invaders, trying to fight back, but they were killed or captured quickly. Vincent chose to  pick his battles and this was one he knew he couldn't win. He went peacefully along with a fair number of others from his local city, into Combine custody where he was transported a long way from his home to a very dirty, decrepit city.

Vincent was now away from home, alone, hungry, and scared and in a city he didn't know along with people he didn't know. There was a new lifestyle to get used to. One of oppression and sorrow. His ideals of resisting an oppressive government soon faded and his ideals and need of self preservation took over more than ever. The events that took place in the past hardened Vincent emotionally, but made him more reclusive, as he felt the more he laid low, the better he could survive. He figured it was best to stay out of the spotlight, so to speak.

Although he felt just getting by as simply as possible was best, he saw how the local police force seemed to be in good physical shape. He knew they had food and shelter and training. He knew they were recruiting more and more members of their organization from the local populace and he saw an opportunity to better himself. "Perhaps I could get that aviation training I always wanted", he though to himself.

5) Have you ever had a MPF character here at Catalyst Gaming?  If so, explain why it was removed.
Yes, former CmD 938. Removed when the server was shut down in 2013.


OOC Details

1. How long have you played on role-playing servers in general?
3 years

2. How long have you played on serious servers?
3 years

3. How long have you played on Catalyst Gaming?
3 years

4. What Time zone are you in?
GMT -5 (EST)

5. In what country do you live?
United States

6. How old are you?
21

7. What�s your most memorable quality RP experience?
We did an OTA event in the outlands back in late 2012 where we had a transport that was carrying an adviser crash and we had to secure it and protect it until another transport could extract us and the adviser. It allowed the citizens to get involved as well, which was a lot of fun.

8. Do you consider yourself a good listener?
Yes.

---

IC Section

Full Name: Vincent Stalton
CID: 79368
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Height: 5'11"
Hair Colour Dark Brown
Eye Colour: Green
Sexual Orientation: Straight
Weight: 130
Mental Distinctions: Observant, notices small details.
Mental Defects: Sometimes overly cautious
Mental Advantages: Weighs pros and cons before acting. Very aware of his surroundings
Notable Qualities: Serious natured, strong willed, trustworthy


1. Have you ever been detained or apprehended for a Sociostability Infringement before? If so, explain?
No.

2. Do you regularly eat Combine Civil Authority Issued Rations?
Yes.

3. Are you willing to give your life to the cause of the Universal Union?
Yes.

4. Do you as a Citizen and future Civil Protection Member accept ALL actions performed by you and those under your command as your OWN responsibility?
Yes.

5. Will you remain loyal and faithful to the Universal Union as long as you live?
Yes.

6. Why do you want to join the Combine Civil Authority?
Food, water, shelter, and an opportunity for a new life with new experiences.


Please sign the attached oath using only blue or black pen.

This post is mostly about the nearly constant accusations from many people that the CCA is "Broken." Those of you who have been around since 2011 or earlier have seen countless CCA reforms with the reason that the CCA is broken in some way, and the only way to fix it is to wipe everything and everyone and restart over and rename everything and get rid of/move around a few ranks here and there. Let me just put it out early in this post that yes, large scale demotions are necessary every once in awhile, because not everyone moves on at the same time. Eventually you wind up with nothing but 02+ units in the CCA. I understand the occasional need for mass demotions, but what pisses me off about it, is that no one ever comes out and just says, "Hey everyone, we're going to do a rank wipe due to everyone being an 01 pretty much and no one is moving on, we're sorry for the inconvenience." They always come out saying, "OH LAWDY THE GOOD CHRISTIAN CCA IS BROKEN! WE GOTS TO WIPE Y'ALL."

So with that, I'm yet to ever see anyone say just what is broken about the CCA that a wipe will fix, other than the fact that the problem lies with the players, not the system or organization of the CCA, and even still few people ever seem to realize that fact. It doesn't matter if we run the CCA with the current system, or the system we had back in November of 2011, the CCA will function as it always has. Let's look back at the 5+ "Reforms" and wipes of the CCA and see what has really changed. Nothing has really changed at all, other than a rank or two being added or removed and things being renamed. I will give a bit of credit to the latest reform, as it actually changed the way UU worked, which appears to be working well.

I'm sure I'm not the only one getting tired of hearing the CCA isn't functioning or is broken completely just because someone saw a recruit do a shitty /me. I think what happens too often is the entirety of the CCA is judged by half a handful of units that aren't that good, and thus the result is an all out, and sometimes unnecessary wipe of everyone. This leads to pissing off people and causing them to leave the community, decreasing HL2RP population semi-permanently.

I'm not making this post because I feel the CCA needs to be changed, nor has anyone said much about another reform. Its just an issue that was on my mind after reading through a few posts, mostly the recent "How can we improve this?" threads (of which I actually made one myself not too long ago). People's responses blow my mind with things along the lines of, "Nothing has really changed in the CCA, its still shit." No one actually said that, but in so many words, a fair number of people view the CCA this way, which seems completely illogical because the CCA hasn't essentially changed at all since its formation, yet a few of the people who don't approve of the CCA's layout seemed to enjoy it back before the latest reform.

The CCA can't function any other way than it does now or always has. There have to be ranks of some kind, there have to be divisions of some kind, and everyone has to have some kind of IC training. There are just certain things in the CCA that can't ever be changed, yet people scream about reforming it. When everyone says, "Okay, go ahead and reform it then since you know what's best", nothing ever changes with the core of things.

One point I'm trying to make is, you can't logically think the CCA was shitty at one point and not think it is now, and vice versa because of the fact that essentially, nothing but names and a rank or two have really changed. So stop saying "Oh, the CCA is shit these days", and before someone says, "But Section 4 is basically HELIX and OP." Section 4's sub-sections act almost as their own sections as it is. Support units don't do Logistics unit's jobs and vice versa, so S4 isn't HELIX reborn.

Just venting my aggravation with people who keep wanting to reform the CCA when its not necessary and nothing will actually change.

A few people have apparently mentioned they've been getting an income of tokens, just as VIP and Gold members do, when they're not gold members or VIP's.

[i]What would you rather play on, the city or the outlands, and why?[/i]

[i]What do you do for fun on city?[/i]

[i]Is City_45 too hardware reliant for your current system? (too laggy)[/i]

[i]What would you like to see more of on city?[/i]

[i]What do you want to do on city?[/i]

[i]What is about city that makes you not want to join or play it?[/i]

[i]What can be done to help you enjoy the city?[/i]

[i]Extra comments.[/i]

[i]What type of events would you like to see and be involved in on the city? (do not give an answer like, "Ones that involve citizens.")[/i]
-Credits to Statua for the idea/format

Every time I connect, I seem to have 2 boxes of 9mm ammo in my inventory. I can load them, drop them, do whatever I want with them, so its not part of the usual inventory problem where it says I don't own them. Its not even necessarily inconvenient, I just don't know if it would  ever become a problem if I didn't actually have room in my inventory for them due to weight.

I sometimes read the private logs and personal files that people post in the IC section, not to metagame, but just to read them because sometimes they're nice to read. One thing I've noticed in some of them though, and this goes all the way back to the creation of this idea, but sometimes people start to glorify themselves in their personal logs. Their logs are good and well written, but the stories they tell often make themselves look far better than they ICly are in reality. An example of what I'm saying is you occasionally find a unit's logs and they're somewhere between the rank of recruit, and 03. The stories they tell don't go along with how you're expected to act at those ranks. You'll see the occasional log of an 04, or 05 where they talk about how easy its getting to kill citizens and beat them. You shouldn't be getting desensitized to that until you're AT LEAST an 01, and that's when you should START getting used to it. I also see a fair amount of self glorification when it comes to training and practice of things. You may see a Commander with a ceremonial sword, or a personalized revolver, or something along those lines that they've come across it one way or another in their extremely long service record. That's not a problem, because they're a Commander and have earned such things. It seems to be a problem though, when you have recruits, 05's, 04's, and even 03's talking about their newest special weapon that they've personalized to make them seem more bad ass or more powerful.

Having an engraved weapon as a low rank isn't the biggest part of the problem though, the problem is what stems from this sort of thing. Its a slippery slope from when you first start engraving your weapons or getting them gold plated as an 05 or 04, to going to being Neo, dual wielding gold plated engraved pistols with marks on them for each man you've killed with them. It leads to an elitist mentality to glorify yourself at a low rank, and even at any rank. It leads you to think you're equal those above you and those at your level are below you. You begin to base your authority off of your abilities and your personalized weaponry, instead of the rank you hold.

I've also seen a lot of people talking about how they blatantly disregard CCA rules in their logs. They give examples of things they've done that they hope High Command doesn't catch them for. Sure, that's part of RP and its an acceptable form of it, but I've seen a few people even talk about committing UPA with citizens in their logs, or thinking about flirting with other units in their logs, or trying to become friends with certain High Command members to get special privileges, and other things along those lines. Basically, people are admitting to  breaking CCA rules, some of which would get them OWR'd and probably blacklisted, and others are admitting to thinking about breaking CCA rules.

I know opposition to this post will say, "You can RP whatever you want as a unit, even having sex." That's correct, you can RP anything you want pretty much, as long as its within reason. If you wanted to, you could RP raping someone on your unit. People are saying things in their logs that make me wonder what kind of things our units are actually doing though. You can say, "Units can break the CCA rules and get away with it, as long as they don't get caught." That's correct, but the issue is that if people are breaking CCA rules and talking about it in their logs, that means people are doing things that we don't want them doing, which means if enough people go around disregarding CCA rules that units must follow or face punishment, then it helps to make the CCA look bad and function bad.

You wouldn't have a police station where 1/3 of the officers there keep private logs talking about how they've broken the laws they swore to follow, or where they talk about how they'd like to have sex with so and so, or where they talk about how they'd like to do this or that, but don't want to get in trouble, or where they talk about getting on the police chief's good side so they can get by with things later. Why wouldn't you have that or want such a thing happening? Because it would degrade the quality of your local law enforcement. Sure, things happen from time to time, but if you compare it to the CCA we have on the server, too many people are talking about these sort of things.

I'm not posting this to make changes, or force people to change their logs, but to bring something I've seen too much of to light. Everyone claims they'll serve the Union till their last breath and obey all their laws and rules as a unit when they apply for the CCA, yet when they get in, they talk about how many of those rules and laws they've broken as a unit, and then glorify themselves when they're a citizen in a suit. I know the logs are IC and posted mostly for people to enjoy reading, but they're supposed to be a reflection of your actual experiences, and I can't say that I'm enjoying reading logs where units talk about their thoughts of breaking CCA laws and rules, which is what makes the CCA shit. 

I apologize for any grammatical errors or misspellings, as I did not proof-read this before posting it.

I'm not complaining or asking for anything in this post, but I'm curious about something I've noticed lately. Some units seem to be getting promoted much faster than others for reasons I don't think are valid. I don't think the issue is lack of training and/or time requirements being fulfilled, I think its a problem with each divisions HC. I'm going to give an example of the issue I'm trying to point out without using any unit digits or names. What I'm about to describe is true, and I've watched it happen for over a month now. In the example below, Unit 1 and 2 are in different divisions. Let's say Unit 1 is in NOVA and Unit 2 is in GRID.

Unit 1 is an 03. Unit 1 remained an 04 just waiting to be promoted for about 3 weeks. Unit 1 has been an 03 for 1 week. So altogether, unit 1 has been in the CCA for 1 month and 1 week (including recruit training). Unit 2 just joined the CCA. Unit 2 is on day 1 of their recruit training. After 7 days, Unit 2 is promoted to 04, on time as usual. Unit 1 by this time, has completed their 02 training and has about another week before they can be promoted to 02. A week passes, and Unit 2 is promoted to 03, on time as usual. Unit 1 still hasn't been promoted and remains an 03. Unit 1 now has about 1 month and 2 weeks in the CCA, and unit 2 has about 2-2 1/2  weeks in the CCA. They are both 03's now.  Let's continue on with this real example. Another week passes and unit 1 is still an 03, as it unit 2. Unit 1 takes a break for 1 week and doesn't play much at all. When unit 1 returns after that 1 week, he see's that unit 2 is now an 02. So let's take a look at each unit's time spent in the CCA. Unit has a total of 1 month, and 3 weeks in the CCA, while unit 2 has about 3 weeks in the CCA. Unit 1 completed all their training with time to spare and had no problem being promoted previously, once it was recognized that he should be promoted. Let's say unit also completed all their training for the next rank on time. Unit 2 is now an 02 and has been in the CCA for not even 1 full month. Unit 1 has been in the CCA for almost 2 full months, and is still an 03. Anyone see a problem here? Let's add in another aspect of the story that hasn't been mentioned yet. Unit 1 pointed out to an OfC in his division that his training was complete and his time was fulfilled for 02. Unit 1 was not promoted, and has made no mistakes, had no black marks, etc., and is actually a decent RPer. Same with unit 2. Unit 2 did the same thing in their division, and was promoted. So why wasn't unit 1? Based on this story (which is a real example, that actually happened and is happening) unit 1 and 2 had nothing against them that would make HC in their divisions say "I'm not promoting you because of (fill in the blank)." Unit 2 however, was promoted exactly on the day their time requirement was fulfilled while unit 1 was either not promoted at all, or promoted weeks after.

Also, let's just sit back and look at the situation. An experience unit, an 03 with 2 months of time in the CCA, is surpassed by someone who wasn't even accepted yet when unit 1 was an 04. I don't understand this concept, nor can I think of any excuse for such a thing. Unit 1 was an 04 as long as unit 2 has been in the CCA altogether, yet unit 2 is now a higher rank than unit 1. You could say that unit 1 didn't finish their training in time, but that's untrue, since I stated that both units finished their training with time to spare each time.

So it seems there's a problem with each divisions HC. One division's HC doesn't have a problem with their members letting them know when they're supposed to be promoted, and promoting them accordingly. The other division's HC wants to make its own rules about how, who, and when it promotes. If that's the case, then I think that needs to be changed, because units in one division are outranking units in other divisions simply because HC in another division doesn't feel like changing someone's name. Also, I've found that asking different HC units in the same division the same question yields different answers. Letting one HC unit know that your time requirement is done and you've completed your training is different from letting another one know. One may say, we're doing promotions because no one is worthy. Another will promote you accordingly.

HC for each division needs to be on the same page about things. I don't think they need to be able to run their division any way they want, no matter what. That's just like having separate states that make their own rules, but follow 1 set of general rules. Isn't the CCA supposed to be united under the command of the CmD's and SeC? If so, then why does it seem that each division is trying to make their division its own separate CCA by doing shit completely different from another division? I know that they all have different jobs, but some things are universal, such as promotions. One division shouldn't be able to change the rules of how, who, and when they promote from the general way of how its typically done. What I mean by this is for example, one division's HC says they're not going to promote based on time requirements and training fulfillments and not to ask or let it be known that you're supposed to be promoted, while another division's HC has no problem with their members asking for and letting HC know they're due for a promotion. The reason people let their HC units know they're due for a promotion is so they won't be forgotten. If you start letting HC promote based on who they think is "Worthy", then they're going to get lazy, miss people who actually have earned their their promotion, forget about people who need to be and should be rightfully promoted, etc. So why does one division have a problem with their units letting it be known they're due for a promotion, while another doesn't? That sort of thing is causing the event I described above with unit 1 and 2.

There are many problems with the current Play To Lose system in my problem. Either not enough people understand it and think they're superman in an RP fight, or people do understand it and play to lose and then they get ICly penalized later for it, and it actually makes you not want to play to lose like you're supposed to anymore.

I understand that it may be appropriate to ICly reprimand a unit if they get attacked and play to lose based on their experience and rank, but when that IC reprimand seems more like a serious OOC and IC thing, it makes you feel like you were wrong for doing it.

I'll give an example without giving any names or other information. A unit is alone patrolling the plaza. A citizen yells for the officer, showing he needs help or is in need of something. That unit approaches the citizen and asks him what he needs. Two other citizens come up from behind the unit and wait. The citizen asking for help signals to the other citizens to jump that unit.

Ok let's look at this situation. Let's say this unit is an 04, which is just one rank above a recruit. He's being surprised, and unexpectantly jumped by 3 citizens. Since he's an 04, he's not going to be super experienced in dealing with this sort of thing and he isn't expecting it, which means the citizens would logically have an advantage due to their number and the fact that they were able to surprise him. So let's continue with this scenario.

The unit is surprised by the attack and doesn't expect it. He is quickly grabbed but is able to get a swing off at one citizen in the face, which immobilizes him for a brief time. The other two are trying to hold his legs and punch him in the spine and stomach and face. Due to the unit's kevlar, the body punches would be somewhat ineffective as would the face punches due to his facemask, but he would still feel them and would still be immobilized somewhat by the citizens trying to pull on his legs and grab his arms and stunstick. The unit quickly speaks into his radio and calls for assistance when he realizes he's been attacked and needs assistance. Let's say the other unit available to respond is an 01, who should be trained to immediately respond to call for help from another unit, but for some reason it takes him a few minutes longer than usual to respond. So long in fact, that this unit being attacked has to actually stop the RP for a moment in LOOC to make sure the 01 isn't afk over the radio. The 01 never responds over the radio and eventually shows up to the scene, where the RP is then continued. The citizens are dealt with and the 04 is able to get back on his feet and help. The 04 is later talked down to and reprimanded by the 01 for being jumped by three citizens, being told he should be capable of handling it ICly.

Ok so let's look at this. The 01 ICly should know that an 04 isn't ICly capable of fighting off and killing 3 citizens at the same time after they jump him, and IF he were to do that, it wouldn't be playing to lose and the citizens would likely complain about how a unit couldn't logically defeat 3 citizens after they jumped him. But why does that 01 have to talk down the 04 ICly to the point that the 04 now thinks he needs to just start pulling his pistol and blowing people away no matter what the situation is, just avoid another "mess up" when he gets attacked by a citizen or group of citizens? Shouldn't the 01 use his IC knowledge and logic and common sense that the 04 couldn't possibly be able to handle 3 citizens jumping him and surprising him and instead of saying something like "You need to learn to handle yourself, I should have left you there to fend for yourself, I'll be making sure you get more combat training soon, etc." Yes, you can say "Well its just IC, don't take it seriously", but the problem here is, is I don't think the 01 should say something like that knowing the 04 can't ICly handle such a situation on his own when he correctly plays to lose. Because now, the 04 may think, "Well next time, I'll be sure to pull my pistol first, and a lot faster. This won't happen to me again."

My point is, is when a lower ranking, inexperienced unit finds themselves in such a situation, higher ranking units who speak to them about it need to take into account their IC capabilities, and the fact that they need to play to lose, not talk down to them like they made a big mistake by not being superman and killing everyone attacking them with their laser eyes.